A meter may measure the consumption of a resource, such as gas, electricity, or water at a premises. The meter may be included in a node on a network where the node includes both the meter and a communication module. The node communicates consumption information to a central system or head end system via the communication module. The central system may analyze the consumption information to manage the resource at each of the premises and to manage other aspects of the system.
The central system may identify a failure at the premises, such as an open gas pipe, by analyzing consumption information and determining that there is a gross amount of flow at the premises, i.e., an amount of flow that is significantly greater than normal. However, the central system typically uses the same set of rules for each device type. It does not consider the characteristics of the specific device or apply different rules based on the characteristics of the meter, such as capacity of the meter, or consider historical consumption information. Since meters serving a commercial or industrial premises may report on a different schedule and may have a different capacity than meters serving residential premises, it would be more useful to consider individual characteristics of the meter and the premises. Thus, it would be helpful if a failure or other error condition could be identified with more accuracy and with less delay.